Modern Prog Bands That Are Not Metal

The newer last two Opeth albums have been pretty much 70's prog rock revival. Steven Wilson's Hand Cannot Erase is probably my favourite modern prog rock album as well.

 

How "modern" are we talking about? The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard jump to mind. They've both been running since the 90s, most would probably say their best material is then, but they both still put out music. Also, if you don't know Spock's Beard you will at least be intrigued by their bassist, Dave Meros, and his odd signature bass and tone.

 

Moon Safari and IQ are my current favorites. Moon Safari is very eclectic and has amazing vocal harmonies.

 

I suppose it depends on what you consider to be metal, and what you consider to be modern. I'll agree with bassbrad regarding IQ and Moon Safari, though IQ has been around for decades. Same with Spock's Beard, who oddly enough, is placed in the "metal" section on my local record store. They are not metal, to my ears.

Then there's Haken. Some place them in the prog metal genre, but I think the are mainly prog rock, especially an album like The Mountain. They are somewhat like Porcupine Tree in that aspect.

 

Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Chrome Hoof, Riverside (depending on the CD).

Some people say Radio Head, but I wouldn't touch that with a 10ft pole.

I just did a Google search on "Progressive rock 2016" and found some stuff. A lot of it does take a harder edge towards metal these days because, and pardon my obvious bias here, Prog is a highly limited, highly niche genre. There is only so much you can do with a format that hasn't evolved much since the mid 70s, or has evolved(?) into a bunch of random computer noise. Since psychedelic is out, there aren't many other ways to go except heavier, and since metal fans are music snobs to start with, it is fertile ground for prog's sometimes (again, apologies) wanky proclivities.

 

Julie Slick has been taking "prog" in some really interesting directions, most of which probably wouldn't be classified as "pure" prog but rather some kind of hyphenated hybrid. Her two solo albums might be described as something like "experimental-prog," for lack of a better term. (The first album includes several cuts built around Fripp soundscapes; the second includes guest appearances by Adrian Belew, Marco Minnemann, Pat Mastelotto, and David Torn, among others.) Her current band EchoTest, in which she plays a VI while Italian bassist Marco Machera plays a 5-string, is some kind of, I dunno, "groove-prog" or something. And the S.A.M. (Slick-Alexius-Mennigman) project she did a couple of years ago consists entirely of free-form prog-jazz. It's all different, and I love all of it.

 

Oh, man, I almost started a thread asking the exact same question!

I'm a connoisseur Old Skool 1970s prog-rock: Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, the Canturbury Scene, etc.
But a lot of contemporary prog leaves me underwhelmed, because it sounds like it absorbed a bit too much of the 1980s hair-metal pyrotechnics, and so it winds up sounding like a Slayer tune with some odd meters thrown in.
I can't stand Dream Theater.
I think Tool has some killer grooves but their tunes never go anyplace, and so their relentless monolithicness just gives me a headache after a while.
Even the coolest modern prog bands that I've managed to stumble across -- District 97, Birds And Buildings, Thank You Scientist, as well as stalwarts like Porcupine Tree -- all seem to have a substantial part of their musical vocabulary derived from heavy metal, be it the crunchy Dual Rectumfier guitar timbres, or the pile-driver headbanging unison riffs. In small doses that can be kinda cool, but it quickly grows tiresome to my ear.

So I would love to hear (in some hypothetical idealized world) what prog-rock would sound like if the whole guitar shredder thing had never happened. Anyone know of any modern prog bands that simply ignored that whole aspect of music history?

 

Another album that comes to mind - Milliontown by *Frost.



Their next album, Experiments in Mass Appeal, was not nearly as good, but OK. They are coming out with a new one at the end of this month. I am hopeful.

 

I've got 4 recommendations that sound like they would satisfy all of the above requirements - lack of cliche shredding and unique modern tastes that are not derivative of the 70's.

The Tea Club
Ampledeed
Farmhouse Odyssey
Karnivool

 

this may help in your search

List of progressive rock artists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Post Modern Juke Box. Check 'em out on You Tube.

 

Check these guys out, they rule!!


They did sort of cross into metal territory on their previous release called "The Void(I think?)," but their most recent release is a return to real prog..

Also these guys:

 

Big Wreck, the Ghosts album.
Not overtly prog but very proggy with nods to Led Zeppelin, Police & Men At Work with prog sensibilities.
Undeniably a truly well crafted album that many people could find things to like in if they just only knew to check it out.

 

A posthumous release from Cleveland's best purveyors of prog.

And their first

 

Flying Colors. Steve Morse, Neal Morse, Dave LaRue, Mike Portnoy.